Are worse for you than regular ones? I’m not really surprised. But sugar’s bad for you, too. That’s why I make sure it’s properly fermented before I drink it.
The Backlash Against The Moon Colony Backlash
Jeff Lord is disappointed with both Romney and Santorum’s lack of space vision, though more so with Santorum:
Instead of Bain bashing, Santorum is attacking Gingrich over the ex-Speaker’s vow to return America to space exploration with a vengeance — in the form of a moon colony. An obvious intent to carry forward with the Reagan space legacy made all the more potent by the Obama administration’s deliberate halt to the very idea of a serious 21st century American presence in space. Appallingly, if predictably, Gingrich’s decision to carry forward with Reagan’s vision has already been mocked by the Obama-lite Romney. But Rick Santorum? The would-be “Authentic Conservative”? Bashing Ronald Reagan’s vision?
Emphasis mine.
As is often the case, he doesn’t seem to understand the new policy, because this is a gross mischaracterization of it. If anything, it was the first serious policy for American presence in space, in that the goal was to finally make it affordable to do so, which the Congress not-so-promptly undid with its insistence on a NASA-developed heavy lifter that will not in any way advance the goal while underfunding or eliminating funding for the things that will. I wonder if he is aware that Gingrich was actually supportive of the Obama policy?
Eat Like A Caveman
The latest advice on going paleo.
I’ve been doing this for about a year, though I haven’t gone whole hog (so to speak) on it. I still occasionally have a slice of bread, or potato, or legumes (though I’ve quit eating peanuts). And it’s tough to give up cheese.
The biggest problem with it is that most people in the world can’t afford it. Civilization happened because when agriculture happened, food became cheap, but not good for our health. If everyone started eating this way, prices of produce and meat would skyrocket — it’s just too inefficient, in terms of the acreage it takes to produce it, for everyone to be able to eat wild or range-fed meat and leaves. The ultimate solution may be genetic engineering that can produce healthy and good tasting foods in vats on a similar industrial scale to that of present-day refined grains. Of course, for many, the instant gratification of stuff that tastes good (sugar, bread, pasta), particularly when it’s cheap, will always overwhelm the long-term benefits of a better diet. But I think that the science is speaking very clearly on this issue now, and it’s time to end the war on fat and the nonsense of the FDA pyramid.
Strip-Mall Armageddon
Is commercial real estate the next bubble to burst?
This is a textbook case for the Austrian business-cycle theory: Artificially low interest rates and loose money produce overinvestment, by both bankers and builders, in a bubble — this time, offices, apartment buildings, and retail space — that can’t be sustained once the artificial stimulation comes to an end, as it must. In this case, that malinvestment has to be worked out at two levels: At the financial level, among the lenders and borrowers, but also at the physical level: There’s going to be a lot of dark storefronts out there, with serious long-term consequences for nearby neighbors and for local real-estate markets: Foreclosures will put more property onto the market, driving down rents and subsequently making existing loans less tenable as the cashflow of commercial properties is diminished. They called the Depression-era tent cities “Hoovervilles.” The next time you see a mile of half-abandoned strip malls, think “Obamaville.”
This is just one of many things that could happen this year that will crater Obama’s reelection hopes.
Halftime In America
In the real America.
A Conservative Lesbian
Help Cynthia Yockey get to CPAC. I met her at BlogCon in DC in 2010, and this is a good cause.
The Space Speech
…that Newt needs to give. My advice to him, over at PJMedia.
Elon’s Reusable Rocket
My latest piece, based on a conversation with the proprietor of SpaceX, is up.
Get Your Own Damn Constitution
Thoughts on why we shouldn’t care what other countries think about our Constitution:
The other main criticism seems to be that the Rest of The World Doesn’t Like It Anymore. Again, so what? America is an outlier on many issues. That’s why people move here. Instead of taking shots, the New York Times should be proud of this. America is the only nation in the world, for example, in which one can more or less say whatever one likes, and in which the individual’s right to free expression trumps all other concerns. Here we are not subject to arbitrary government balancing acts, at least when it comes to speech. NR’s own Mark Steyn knows as well as I do what happens when otherwise democratic countries incorporate more “modern” attitudes into their charters. If America is different from the rest of the world, then we should say Good. We do not need the approval of Saudi Arabia.
Coming from abroad, I react with a particular horror to the casual way in which many dismiss America’s backbone. If this country should fall, those of us who believe in American values simply have nowhere else in the world to go. It is highly unlikely that a constitution like America’s will surface again. By virtue of Providence or a quirk of history or whatever you will, the United States has been afforded a uniquely brilliant document. The Philadelphia Convention of 1787 provided history with perhaps its only instance of Platonic philosopher kings doing what Plato suggested they might. That the revolution — more of a restoration, really — was hijacked by a small, salutary clique of brilliant men who did not have to refer too closely to public sentiment (publics are not very good at drawing up constitutions) and had an extremely solid understanding of history and political philosophy should be celebrated. It gave America a work of art, and we would do well not to presume that we have such painters among us today, or that, even if we do, they would be given access to the canvas.
We built America because we didn’t want to be them. Those living here who do (like editorial writers and so-called journalists at the New York Times), should go live there instead of screwing up this country.
Bad Science
…by the numbers. And yet we’re supposed to just go along with the “authorities,” and “settled science” when there is great political power and trillions of dollars at stake.